"the week of pure angels" (week 3) & "the week where I started dating" (week 4)

Last weekend, I had every intention of blogging about the third week of camp, but I was unable to access the internet--except for email in the Rock (camp office). I stayed at Miracle Ranch last weekend and had tons of fun chilling with the other staff. I did my laundry, cleaned my cabin, shaved my legs AND did my hair, and then chilled on camp for awhile.

Three fun things about last Saturday: 1) canoeing with Aweemaweh across Horseshoe Lake to the waterlily fields, 2) hanging off the dock and trying to catch fish with my bare hands with Trogdor, Klondike, and Geegles, 3) going to Thai food with Velvety, Ogo Pogo (Eli), Marzipan (ReBekha), and Aweemaweh.

After Thai, I crashed in Marzipan's cabin since she wasn't feeling well, and I didn't really want to sleep in my cabin alone. (Both our CITs were gone.) Last week, this nasty flu bug was going around, and basically half the camp got it. Ok, that's something of an exaggeration, but a lot of the staff got sick--especially the high school staff--and had to go home. Several campers went home early, and I think that week was labeled "Pukefest '07." Fortunately, I was the original initiator of the 24 hr flu bug during sprint week, so I was fine. I was a little dizzy all week, but I think that was a result of waterfront duty, or sitting on the dock and rocking on the water. (blurgh)

However, despite everyone else getting sick, my cabin was perfectly fine. In fact, my campers were astounding. My first impression was that this was going to be a good week, but then I'd had that same feeling about Katie P., and well, she ended up chowing down on Banana Boat. But this week, first impressions held and went even beyond.

I don't think I'd ever encountered such curious girls before. Bible studies kept their attention, as did evening devos, and we ended up continuing a Bible study into KBMO one day because there were so many good questions and they just wanted to keep going. I was very, very blessed by these girls. Plus, they never bickered amongst themselves or had any petty drama. They were united from the beginning, and were absolutely incredible.



This last week that just ended this morning--it seems forever ago--was the first teen week of the summer. The first three weeks, I had girls ranging from 8-10 years of age. This week, I had 13-15 yr olds in my cabin, and I had eleven of them. *blink* Junior highers are so insane and fun, I tell ya what!

From the get-go, my girls this week bonded, and the friendships lasted throughout the week. They were exchanging email and home addresses as well as phone numbers last night and this morning. Hugs were exchanged all around, and several were close to tears when they said goodbye to each other. I almost started crying myself, to be honest, which had never happened before now. I wish I had used more of my free time this week to bond with my girls. I really missed out on some good opportunities.

Thinking back over the week, I can't help but laugh at some of their antics. One of my girls answered the cabin door in just her underoos, and henceforward, whenever someone decided to be scandalous, it was referred to as "going Siara." Point: last night when we were walking down from our cabin to the nightswim we'd earned, we were joking around about showing our knees in public, and I decided to pull up my swimsuit coverup higher on my leg. Unfortunately, without thinking, I'd done so in front of the guys' cabins. Fortunately, no one was there. But then, the girls I was with could hardly wait to tell the other girls in our cabin that "Hakuna Matata pulled a Siara in front of Dodge City!" I didn't really live that one down.

Another thing I didn't live down was the supposed romance between myself and another one of the staff members. Poor eHarmony. My girls were absolutely convinced that we were in love and continued to tease us--especially me--about it throughout the week. My LIT didn't really help the matter because she thought it was hilarious and just egged them on, which was fine, because it really was funny, just awkward at the same time.

Last night, after the No Talent night and before fireside, my girls decided to revamp an old favorite by singing, "Hakuna and eHarmony sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes purple, then comes marriage..." You get the picture. I like that they felt it necessary to include "purple" instead of "love." Oi. Well, it didn't stop at that because then they found eHarmony and sang it to him. And THEN, they hunted me down--I had run off a safe distance across the basketball court--dragged me over to his side, and kept pushing us together and trying to get someone to marry us.

I was laughing the entire time through my protests because it really was hilarious, and the girls had no malice about the ordeal, just joking around. However, because I was laughing so much--and trying not to show it--and since I was embarrassed, my face was red and the girls began teasing me about blushing--a sure sign that he and I were "secret lovers." Junior highers make me laugh. :)

Also funny about this situation is that poor ReBekha was in a similar predicament with her girls, who were also convinced that she and eHarmony were dating. In fact, they even went so far as to say that he was cheating on her with me. At least my girls were just joking around about it and weren't by any means serious! I think that's why I didn't mind the teasing so much because I know they were just having fun.

Now on a more serious note, it's ironic that the impact I feel I had this week wasn't on any of my own campers. Monday night, I prayed with two other counselors for one of their campers, and the rest of the week, this girl came up to me and gave me a hug whenever she saw me because our combined prayers had made a difference in her life.

Also, I spoke with another camper--along with her counselor and the women's staff counselor--about cutting. I shared my own experience with it, the reasons why I did cut, and the circumstances surrounding it. I didn't feel like I'd actually made any headway with her, but the other two women who were with me seem convinced that the camper actually listened, which I hope she did. This girl had a lot of identity issues, so if you could pray that a) she finds God and b) realizes her true identity, that would be more than wonderful.

Another prayer request: issues with my CIT. Some of the time, when she engages in what she's supposed to be doing, she rocks at being a CIT. She's got a great heart, but she's easily influenced by the other CITs who aren't exactly at camp for the campers. In some ways, it feels like she's my "big camper," only she has some authority in the cabin and tended to undermine me behind my back this week. I have a distinct feeling that she and I will be sitting down and having a heart to heart come the next week of camp. It's oddly encouraging to know that I'm not the only counselor having CIT issues, but it's frustrating to be fighting someone who's supposed to be there to help. Please pray for wisdom and guidance as these conversations come up.

One more thing: I'll try to post pics in a day or so. It might wait until I'm up in AK.